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I do have a Tekonsha controller in my car and towing a 1.3 tonne poptop van, I have had no dramas with it, which is why I wanted to go with the same brand controller in my ute. I do of course understand the need for it to be fitted correctly and if it isn't a straight forward procedure then I would not even think of attempting it myself.
The other option that I do have is a controller bracket supplied and fitted and wired up, to the ute where all I would need to do then is simply unplug the controller unit itself from the car and plug it in to the bracket in the ute. I've had a registered Tow bar and 4WD company quote me $180 for this,. supply and fit. That is obviously the way to go if for safety reasons, I don't try to fit it myself.

I want to fit a Tekomseh electric brake controller to my 2011 hilux, which does then present two or three questions.
DO I get it fitted by an auto electrician at some of the strangely hidious prices that I've been quoted, ($150 to $225 labour only) OR,...do I fit it myself, using the presumably included wiring diagram. I am personally tempted to fit it myself seeing as I am assuming that it shouldn't be too difficult as long as I 'follow the bouncing ball'.
Thirdly,... is there an 'ideal' spot under the dash to mount the unit, as I've been told to be aware of air bag bits and pieces under there.
Cheers.
Lance

Just a quick question as I'm planning a trip in April across the Nullarbor to W.A. and return, towing a 17 ft Jayco poptop behind my 2011 Hilux dual cab (104,000) klm).. The unladen caravan tare weight is a shade over 1200 kg but by the time we toss some gear in there, it'll probably hit close to 1400 kg. (ish). Add on about 300 kg to 400 kg combined people and 'other stuff' weight inside the ute and that's about the total weight over all.......apart from the ute itself.
Does anyone know if the 2011 (auto) has a transmission cooler as standard and if not, should I have one fitted,....or is one even necessary. We'll be doing about 8,000 klm's over the whole trip and probably not exceeding 90 kph anyway. (100 kph limit when towing anything in W.A.)
We do have another two Toyotas that we can choose from for the trip, one is the wifes 2008 Kluger (200,000 klm)with electric brake controller and the same question re: a trans cooler ? or my 2003 Avalon VXi (140,000 klm) which is fully set up for H/D towing, including a trans cooler and electric brake control and drives like a silent dream.
Thanks in advance for any advice.
Lance.

I have a 2003 VXi (which probably makes no difference to the problem in this case).
My interior light suddenly won't come on when any of the doors are opened and neither does the left front door courtesy light come on. (Right front door courtesy light still works though and the front map lights both still work).
Is it just coincidence then that both these lights seem to have stopped working at the same time, which to me would almost certainly rule out two blown globes at the same time as being the cause,......or,......are they in fact maybe both under the same fuse. I've only noticed it tonight so I will be checking the fuse block tomorrow but just wondered if the two lights are in fact linked through the same fuse.
Thanks.
Lance.

All I can do now is regularly look at the master cylinder for any signs of leaking or loss,... but at least the warning light is working normal again so that should be my first warning if anything shows up in the interim.

All tinally sorted out. Had the car up on the hoist for the service so git them to drain and change the brake fluid,....bleed the brakes of course and,.....problem solvered.! Apparently the fluid that came out wasnt all that flash but after the change, all went back to working perfectly.

Thanks Hiro, that actually makes a lot of sense and is right along my own line of thinking. I am a bit surprised however that the Toyota spare parts bloke didn't seem to have this bit of information in one of his reference links on his computer screen or in his own general knowledge,....oh well, maybe he was new to the job and this was only his first week of learning the ropes.
The car is actually due in for a service in two days time so because the fluid hasn't been changed since I've owned the car (the past 60,000 k's, I suspect that a brake fluid change wouldn't go astray at the same time as the service. Just might fix the whole problem. I'll post the results after it's all done
Cheers
Lance.

I have a 2003 VXi Mk 3 (lovely motor car), currently 136K but for the past 2 years (20,000 k's approx) I have had the brake warning light coming on and off at different times but more often during or after turning a corner and then straightening up again, when the warning light will come on betore a corner, go off as I turn the corner and then come back on again once I'm going straight again,..... or sometimes the other way around.
For all intents and purposes, it's like a 'moving fluid' is triggering an on/off switch but the only fluid here is in the brake fluid reservoir, something that I checked several times from the very first time the light began turning itself on. Naturally I continue to check that the hand brake foot pedal is always right off because both foot brake pedal and low brake fluid level are indicated through the same warning light.
It is obviously only a connection problem and not a safety issue because everything still works as it should. A mechanic check has clarrified that as well. There are two wires that run to the side of the master cylinder reservoir which I assumed would connect to a switch that I coukd replace, assuming that to be the cause, but after much searching at a Toyota spare parts desk, the bloke there could find nothing in his parts book to indicate a replacement part and even his own visual check of my car couldn't tind anything either.
.The 'problem' now is that for the past 6 months and even though everything is still working fine and the brake fluid level is right up (no visible leaks anywhere) that warning light is not going off but staying ON the whole time.
Any ideas on where to look now would be greatly appreciated.
Lance.

Thanks for all your help. First chance I get, I'll get myself down to one of a few Toyota wreckers that we have here in Adelaide and see what I can scare up. They could probably also give me the precise information on what will fit and what wont. I'd LOVE to put a Kluger cluster in there and hook everything up but that maybe asking too much.
Thanks again, I'll post the results of whatever I find out so as it might help someone else down the track.
Cheers 🍻

Having never done it before, how fiddly is it to remove or get in behind the dash cluster. If your later SR has the brighter cluster and the SR5 naturally has the brighter cluster,.....and for that matter so does my wifes 2008 KXS Kluger have a brilliantly lit cluster, which comes straight on with the ignition and illuminates virtually everything, as if every single number and pointer has its own globe..........with all these apparent 'options', would a full swap be possible, in which case a visit to a Toyota wreckers might be in order.?

Thanks for those replies. I see that they are earlier dates,..2008, 2009. etc that cover the subject. My SR is 2011so obviously Toyota still chose not to have this rotary dimmer switch seemingly until your 2013 model. It will forever baffle me why it was never fitted right from the start.
One of those earlier replies made the point by asking the question, 'why would anyone want to dim these dash lights anyway' and of course he was perfectly correct,...because the damn things aren't bright enough to begin with, they seem to be set fixed at a point about 2/3 to 3/4 of full brightness,..which was the the main point of my question,.....to get them to be a whole lot brighter, particularly in daylight or sunset and then the odometer to be brighter at night. I just hoped that a dimmer switch (as I called it) could also make them brighter.
Then back to the other part of the original enquiry,... Is there ANY other way of making them brighter, even if it means a fixed method of some sort like brighter globes or brighter illumination from in back of the dash or removing whatever the part is that sets the current brightness level and so allowing the fullest light wattage.
Conversely then, would a 2013 (or later) dash cluster go into a 2011 as a swap and still hook up to the existing connectors on everything.

The 2011 SR doesn't have the rotary dimmer even though the provision is there.
I wonder if the wiring loom to connect to a switch might be there though because it would seem odd to not have the same basic loom across the three models even if every lead isn't connected.

I would think that this question is probably not new but I can't find it anywhere.
I have a 2011 Hilux V6 SR dual cab which for some strange reason, Toyota chose to NOT have a brightness adjust on any of the dash lights. Because the three dials are recessed, they are difficult to read at times, especially at various times of the day and reading the odometer is even harder to impossible to read if I run my headlights during the day, automatically dimming the dash and odometer lights even lower.
Two or three questions now arise.
1. Is the dash illuminated by single or independent globes from behind and if so, are they accesible to maybe change to brighter globes or is there some other type of central illumination in hehind there that could be improved upon.
2. Is there any way of fitting and connecting up a CHEAP dimmer adjustment switch in to the provision provided, but not utilized (pretty much cheapskate Toyota to not include one) so as to make the dash lights brighter, or conversly to somehow make them brighter without adding a dimmer adjust switch. I just want to be able to read my speedo and odometer at a quick glance, at any time of the night OR day, without taking my eyes off the road so as I can squint to see the speedo. Something that I can NOT do at present.
3. Would I be assuming correctly that the SR5 might have a different type of dash lights setup, a dimmer switch fitted to that blank provision in the SR or possibly even a dash setup similar to the Kluger KXS which illuminates just about everything brilliantly in all the dash guages etc. If rhe SR5 is so equipped, how difficult would it be to do a ' speedo dash swap' between the two.
I still cant believe that the SR which is NOT a cheap vehicle to buy from new, does not have such a basic switch that IS in just about every other vehicle on the market.
Cheers.

I've got all my spotlights up and working and wanted to put in a pilot led light on the dash, connected to the on/off switch connected to the high beam.
The only problem however is by leaving the switch in the 'on' position when I turn off the headlights, the spotlights will come on. (Have never had this happen in past cars) . Okay, I'm not too worried about that, as long as I remember to turn the switch to 'off' when I'm not using the headlights.
I decided to put in a dash pilot light to remind me if I've forgotten to throw the switch. I thought that the logical method was to wire the pilot light into the wire that runs from the relay to the switch and back again to the spotlights but that doesn't work.
When I take the pilot light out and reconnect that wire direct back to the switch again, everything works as it should. It just doesn't seem to want the pilot light put into that wiring.......what am I doing 'wrong'.? The pilot light will come on by itself but not the spotlights, until I remove the pilot and go back direct to the switch. Damn frustrating.
Cheers